


Missing Sun

by WriterSky20



Category: Nurarihyon no Mago | Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan
Genre: Gen, Graphic Description, Maybe - Freeform, Medication mentioned but it really isn't typically meds but I'll put the warning here anyways, Missing in Action, One-Shot, Paranormal Patrol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:20:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24653716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WriterSky20/pseuds/WriterSky20
Summary: What if Rikuo had gone missing instead of Rihan getting killed?
Relationships: Nura Rihan & Nura Rikuo, Nura Rikuo & Kiyojuji Paranormal Patrol
Comments: 4
Kudos: 38





	Missing Sun

**Author's Note:**

> I tried.   
> This is really long. In case you didn't see the word count.

The kerria flowers are in full bloom today in the garden. The sun is shining brightly and the breeze is cool as it moves through the garden. 2-year-old Nura Rikuo runs ahead, laughing joyfully as Nura Rihan walks down the steps with a little girl, hand-in-hand, with him, smiling as Rikuo runs through the garden. The girl lets go of his hand once they’ve reached the center of the garden. Rikuo turns the bend out of sight from Rihan’s view. Rihan stops before the kerria flowers and stares at them. His hair covers his face as he looks at the flowers. The girl stares at him then turns to the flowers as well.

Rihan starts to say a poem, “The kerria flowers bloom sevenfold, eightfold -” when a scream coming from Rikuo’s direction stops his poem. Rihan looks in that direction, his eyes widen. “Rikuo?” He dashes off after the cry, yelling “Kubinashi! Oyaji! Kurotabo! Aotabo! My Hyakki Yakou!” The Nura Clan Hyakki Yakou hear his cry and jump up immediately, running towards the garden. The girl has disappeared as the yokai with Nurarihyon at the front run past the kerria flowers, past the rest of the garden, to see Rihan standing with something in his hands. He drops to his knees, trembling. The Nura Clan immediately comes forward and surrounds him, some taking point to stand guard, spreading their Fear around to look for any others, while the rest just surround Rihan. Rihan just stares down at the object clutched in his hand, hair covering his face. Nurarihyon comes forward with Karasu-Tengu, the young Yuki-Onna, Aotabo, Kubinashi, Kurotabo, and Kejoro.

“Rihan, what happened?” Nurarihyon asks. “Where’s Waka?” Yuki-Onna piped up, the other yokai had noticed before but not thought about it for Rikuo had a tendency to wander off close by but now they realized that Rihan’s scream would have caused him to come running back. Rihan simply raised the object in his hands forward to where the others could see it. It was Rikuo’s red haori. His _torn and bloodied_ red haori. The yokai gasped.

“Taken,” Rihan finally spoke up, raising his head up slightly to show his furious and panicking eyes, “Those bastards took my son… _Those bastards took my child!_ ” Sorrow then took the place of that fury as Rihan brought the ruined haori back close to his chest and broke down, weeping. “My child, my hurt child! Scared and gone and dying! Give him back, _give him back!_ ” He roars into the air.

The Nura Clan, after their initial shock, quickly scream in pain and fury, several yokai dropping to their knees or their equivalent of knees. Fear bursts from all of them, the most potent and furious being Nura Rihan and Nurarihyon, which quickly spreads throughout the entire city.

Nurarihyon, after taking a deep breath, seeing his son unable to function enough to order his yokai around, orders for an immediate search and rescue for Rikuo and to call their allies for help and an emergency meeting. The yokai immediately response and jump into action. Rihan is brought back to the house and tells Wakana the news, they both break down in the privacy of their shared room, then go to Rikuo’s room, hold each other, and break down a second time there. Nurarihyon lets them have this moment of privacy for a few hours then comes into the room, gets Rihan to fight him outside, snapping Rihan out of it just enough to be able to function and lead the clan.

The rest of the Clan wasn’t happy when they figured out that it wasn’t a yokai who had taken Rikuo like they had initially thought, but a human. It’s been days once this meeting takes place and they haven’t managed to find Rikuo.

For the first time ever, the Nura Clan has been beaten by a human.

_8 years later…_

In Ukiyo-e Town Junior High School, Ienaga Kana sits at her desk in her homeroom class, staring wistfully out the window. She had dreamed last night of a strange, 4-year-old boy with two-toned hair running ahead of her 4-year-old self, laughing. They had been running in a field of wildflowers where in the center stood a sturdy weeping willow tree. The boy had entered the willow tree, gesturing for her to follow. She couldn’t remember his face yet she knew that he was smiling. Her younger self had been about to follow but then there had been darkness all around her, the smiling boy was gone and so was the field of wildflowers and the willow tree. Then she had woken up. Kana is thinking about the dream still when normally she would brush it off because that boy had seemed so familiar to her, like she and him had been friends before. It was nagging at her, she just couldn’t seem to get it out of her head that the boy from her dream last night was the same boy that she had hung out with when she was 8 years old – the one who had been on the same bus as them when that creature had attacked them, who had stopped and annihilated the being before it and its companions could do anything to them. The boy had vanished only a few days after that – as if he had never existed. Had the same thing happened before? She knew a boy as a toddler only for the boy to disappear, she knew the same boy as an 8-year-old only for the boy to disappear again. It was like a pattern but for the life of Kana, she couldn’t figure out _why_. And it frustrated the intelligent, solid-A-plus student inside of her.

Kana looks at her surrounding classmates for a moment before her eyes almost unconsciously go to Oikawa Tsurara. The girl had joined her and her classmates only 4 weeks after the Bus Incident. She was strange, like she wasn’t sure on how to be social with the people around her, and there were times when it looked like she wasn’t going to grow with them, but she was observant – even if sometimes that observance didn’t lead her to the correct conclusions 100% of the time, which Kana simply concluded was just due to her lack of social skills. One thing Kana had absently noted about Oikawa-san was that she didn’t brush away dreams or superstition – in fact, she seemed to live and breath for strange dreams and superstitions. Kana wonders if it would be okay for her to ask Oikawa for her opinion on what her dream might mean. Kana’s eyes drift to Kekkain Yura who had joined their class 2 years ago to continue her general education while she trained up her onmyouji skills here in Ukiyo-e Town which was apparently the only ward in Tokyo that had enough Yokai for her to train against but not so many that she gets overwhelmed and killed off. At least, that’s how Yura had explained it to the Kiyojuji Paranormal Patrol once they found out her secret. She, along with Kiyotsugu, Torii Natsumi, Maki Saori, Oikawa Tsurara, Shima Jiro, and Ienaga Kana herself, had made up the Kiyojuji Paranormal Patrol only a few weeks prior to that revelation, with Yura having only been going to their school for a few months by then. Yura might know what her dream meant and Kana resolved to tell the Kiyojuji Squad about her dream so that they can help her figure out its meaning together as soon as they meet up. If Kana remembers correctly, there should be a meeting today after school – Shima had a teacher-student individual conference meeting with the science teacher during lunch today so they couldn’t do their usual lunch meetings. Kana’s eyes move back to look outside the window again. _I have a feeling that this dream won’t stop until I meet that boy again. And I have a feeling that he’s coming back sometime this year – he should be 12 years old by now, which, if there is a pattern to follow, means that he will appear again. I hope he stays around longer this time; I would like to get to know him long enough that I don’t have to relay on a dream 4 years from now to remember him or his name_ , Kana thought seriously. _I’m going to lose sleep over this if I don’t get answers soon._

The bell rang, signaling the beginning of class. Everybody immediately dives towards their seats or sat up straighter and look to the front, including Kana. Not a second later, the teacher enters the room and goes to the podium, setting down their stuff on their desk and the papers in their hand on the podium. The class stood up as they entered. They face the class, looking around, and nodding in approval upon seeing every student in their correct seat with the correct textbooks and notebooks on their desks, ready to be opened and used for each class. The whole class sat up straighter, you could almost see some of the students preening upon receiving their homeroom teacher’s approval after months of working their asses off for it. “Good morning, class,” the teacher greets. The class as one respond, “Good morning, Yukane-sensei.”

“You may take a seat,” Yukane-sensei says. The class sat down, chairs scrapping the floor as students reached for their seats and move them back into position as they sat down. Yukane-sensei waits for them to all be seated and silent. The class finishes and looks at their teacher, silently waiting for the news and what to expect for the day, so that they could relax and chat among each other quicker. “The first piece of news I have for you is on last night’s murder,” Yukane-sensei announces. The classroom air thickens, tension immediately filling the air as the students tense up on the reminder of what happened so close to their school. “The good news is that the victim wasn’t a student from our school,” The tension relaxes. “… The bad news is that the victim, one Saori Gina, is a student, an international student, to be more specific. A Japanese-American international student.” The tension was back, this time with a solemn and sorrow tinge to it. Yukane-sensei took off their glasses as tears brimmed the edges of their eyes, one hand holding the glasses and placed on the podium, the other reaching up and pressing a fist to their bridge and forehead as they took a breath and a pause to gather themselves. Yukane-sensei had been an international student themself, sent to America in an exchange program so they held a particular sense of fondness for America, specifically American young people. So, the class understood their pain and kept silent, feeling the pain of losing not only a fellow Japanese but an American who had only come here to understand and interact with their own root culture. _An international student, especially one connected by blood to the culture, shouldn’t have to discover the dark side of the culture they are visiting and interacting with,_ the class silently thought.

Yukane-sensei finishes their pause and straightens up, putting their glasses back on. “Sorry,” They clear their throat, “This would have been an announcement but the principal thought it better that we, the homeroom teachers, give the news more personally so that you, the students, would listen to the orders the school district has sent our school in response to this attack.” The students were about to protest being given orders but the teacher pushes through before they could. “There is no guarantee that the murderer won’t strike again. The police have stated that the strikes towards Saori-san were to meticulous to be made by an amateur. We cannot risk our students or teachers’ lives on the off chance that it is indeed a first-time murderer. The murderer is still out there.” That silences whatever protest the students had as Yukane-sensei stares them down. They continue by reading what was written on the paper before them, which the class rightly assumes was the school district’s orders.

“Your orders that you are to follow from now on until the culprit behind the murder is caught, is as follows: ‘You are to walk, drive, bike, ride the bus or the train, home and to school with at least one other person, whether this is a guardian or a fellow schoolmate. You are to always have something on hand ready to be used in defense as a just-in-case scenario – you have the permission of the school district and the police to use the weapon upon anybody who attacks you first in self-defense even if it isn’t the murderer. You are not to stay in or be in or near the school, not even for clubs or sports, after 6 pm sharp – all clubs and sports must be finished by 5:30 pm, no later. NO EXCEPTIONS.’ And yes, they did write that in capital letters, don’t ask me how they managed to do that on a typed paper in kanji, I don’t know. Continuing, ‘Any new students who join any of the schools within the district in the next few days, weeks, or months are not to be accused of being the murderer for the police have testified that the murderer is an adult and thus could not go to any of the schools disguised as a student. Any bullying towards any new students or any current students for any reason, but especially because you believe them to be the murderer, will not be tolerated and the bullies will be immediately and happily exterminated – meaning we make sure the rest of your life is absolute hell. This new bullying policy will continue to be in place even after the murderer has been captured’ Is that understood?” Yukane-sensei looks up sharply at their students, eyes piercing into their very souls as they let the new policy sink into their students. The pale and rapidly nodding faces told the teacher all they needed to know about that, so with some form of satisfaction, Yukane-sensei turns back to the orders. “Good. … ‘New orders will be sent out as the investigation continues.’ Ok, that’s the end of the orders but not the end of today’s news. Likely, that’s the last of the bad news.”

The class almost slumps in their seats with relief upon hearing that they didn’t have to listen to any more bad news for today other than last night’s murder. “In other news, this class actually has a new student,” Yukane-sensei states. The class perk up, but nobody, Yukane-sensei notes with satisfaction and happiness, whispers the idea of the new student’s arrival being suspicious or the new student being the murderer. But just in case, Yukane-sensei decides to tell them, “This student was actually supposed to be here last month, but complications unexpectedly rose up on their end and then the school lost their manuscript and they weren’t able to resend it thanks to their complications, so the school had to look for the original while the new student dealt with their problems. It wasn’t until last week that we managed to find the original manuscript. And then one of the teachers realized that we could’ve looked at our new students’ files on the computer. So, that’s why the student is popping up now of all times.” The students nod in understanding, some snickering at the teachers’ forgetfulness about the existence of the school computers and the information they hold.

A knock sounds at the door. “Ah,” Yukane-sensei looks at the door and smiles, the students noting that it was tinged with sorrow, “That must be them. Come in.” The door slides open and in steps what the students assume to be the new student. The new student closes the door and walks to the front of the room, steps confident yet shy in their slow shuffle forward. The teacher writes the new kid’s name on the board in kanji.

NAMIKAZE RIKUO, the board read. The whole class observes the kid before them. Kana straightens in surprise when she realizes with a start that it’s the boy from her dreams and from the Bus Incident all those years ago. He’s returned like she had predicted. Namikaze Rikuo is short, about 148 cm or 4’8” ft. 12 years old, like she had guessed. His hair is auburn brown on the top with the bottom part darkening to dark brown; it was wild and windswept to the left, reaching down to his shoulders with some of the hair pulled back out of his face, held together by a red ribbon. He has wide brown eyes, dark circles underneath, not that deep but noticeable. There was an old burn mark on his left cheek, so old it almost seemed like a birthmark, which went from his jawline all the way to his cheek. The burn mark even reaches his ear. The uniform covers his neck so Kana didn’t know if the mark went further down. One thing she did know was that it has always been there. She didn’t remember before because the burn mark was just as much apart of him as his hair but now, she did remember. It had been there even before the Bus Incident, before he joined her elementary school, when he had just been some kid her 8-year-old self played with at the park. She was sure that if she could just remember the 4-year-old version of Rikuo, he too would have the burn mark. It had been there for so long the likelihood of it being a birthmark was getting stronger and stronger inside of her each moment she meet this strange little boy. But she never did get the courage to ask him. Kana ignores the burn mark for now and continues her observations. Namikaze Rikuo wore the uniform – the black, currently unbuttoned, blazer jacket, the white dress shirt, the black pants, presumably the blue-black socks, and the white inside shoes. He also had on a belt. A black and orange backpack is thrown across his chest and sits behind his back. He grips the strap nervously yet absently, like by this point it was nothing more than habit for him to grip the strap. He shifts where he stands, likely first day nerves, yet is entirely sure-footed, as if he knows exactly who he is but is unsure of how people would react to that true self and is thus unsure how to act. _Ah, he’s just as socially shy as I remember_ , Kana thinks to herself fondly. _I wonder if he remembers me._ By now, even if it’s been years since they’ve interacted with each other, she still views him fondly as her quirky, little brother.

Tsurara – Yuki-Onna – sits up straighter than she had been, eyes widening. _He looks just like Waka might’ve looked, minus the burn scar and the longer hair,_ she thinks. She is definitely going to tell Nidaime, Wakana-sama, and Shodai when she gets home. _But wait – it could just be a coincidence. Every human has at least one doppelganger, if Kiyotsugu’s old tale is to be believed. I shouldn’t get the Clan hope like that!_ Her shoulders drop and she relaxes, deciding that she will get more information and then act accordingly.

“Everybody,” Yukane-sensei calls, “This is your new classmate, Namikaze Rikuo. He will be joining us today for the rest of the school year until late February. He’s apart of the new Exchange Program the district and town council has set up with a village nearby that had previously been pretty isolated from its neighboring towns. So, give him the best welcome. Namikaze-kun, would you like to say anything to the class?”

Rikuo looks at the class before him, bites his lip, then simply says, “Nice to meet you,” as he gives a short bow in greeting to them. Yukane-sensei smiles and tells him where he can seat, “Ok, there’s an open seat by Ienaga-chan. Ienaga, can you raise your hand please?”

Kana raises her hand, Rikuo makes his way over, and takes a seat in the empty seat next to her. He puts his backpack on the desk hook and takes out his supplies – the textbooks and notebooks he will need. The teacher moves on from today’s news and then gives rollcall – everybody saying here, present, or raising their hand. Rikuo raises his hand when his name gets called.

“Ok, everybody is here. The rest of homeroom is free time – meaning study time – since all we had to do was tell you today’s news,” Yukane-sensei says.

In the afternoon, the Kiyojuji Paranormal Patrol takes over the classroom as everybody else leaves. Rikuo is packing up his things when Kana approaches him while Kiyotsugu writes on the board the usual words he writes down.

“Hey, I’m Ienaga Kana,” she introduces herself, unsure if he remembers her and also embarrassed that she hadn’t introduced herself during homeroom. Rikuo looks up and smiles at her. “Hello, Kana-nee,” he greets. Her eyes light up. “You remember me!” He nods, smile still in place. She jumps for joy and whoops, glad that her little brother is back.

“Wait, you know each other?” Yura asks as she approaches.

“Yeah, we played with each other when we were 8, then he joined our school. We actually consider each other brother and sister by the time the Bus Incident happened,” Kana explained.

Yura blinks, “Bus Incident?”

“Oh yeah, I remember that,” Natsumi says, eyes lighting up. Saori shivers, “That was terrifying. But also, kind of awesome.”

“Right, the Bus Incident! We never did get a chance to thank you!” Shima turns to Rikuo. A blush decorates Rikuo’s cheeks as he frantically waves his hands, refusing to hear any ‘thanks’.

“I remember an incident with one of the buses, but the news were pretty vague as to what happened,” Tsurara adds, frowning. She wasn’t lying, the news had been vague. But she did remember Nidaime being really pissed off about someone – what later turned out to be a yokai - attacking Nura Clan territory. Apparently, it hadn’t been a landslide like the news initially suggested.

“Ok, can someone please explain to me what this Bus Incident is?” Yura asks again, annoyance starting to show on her face.

“Right, you weren’t there when it happened, were you Keikkain-chan?” Kiyotsugu says, about to go into one of his storytelling tangents when Rikuo interrupted and told the story himself, saying more than he had said all day as he paused in packing up.

“It happened about 4 years ago, when all of us were 8 or 9 years old. We were all on our way home, using the bus like normal. Everybody was joking around, rough housing, and talking, like normal. When we went under the tunnel pass, the next things we know the tunnel was collapsing and the bus was turned over onto its sides…”

_Rikuo woke up to a throbbing pain in his head. He moved and realized with a wince that his head had crashed through the window and he was partially hanging out of the bus. Technically, still in the bus because the bus was on its side, he quickly realized. Rikuo coughed and got up, coughing through the dust and smell of blood and gasoline._

_Gasoline…_

_Rikuo’s eyes widened. He looked wildly around and realized that all of the kids were on the side of the bus that was now on the ground. He went to Kana first, getting her off of him and shaking her awake. She coughed and got up shakily as he got to work in waking up the other kids or putting the ones who wouldn’t wake up on the shoulders or back of those who are awake and can carry. Kana helped once she got herself together._

_“We have to get out of the bus, there’s gasoline,” Rikuo yell-coughs out, then realizes that these kids might not realize what the danger of loose gasoline in this kind of situations could mean, “IT COULD GO BOOM!” The kids were quick to agree that they needed to get out of the bus._

_Everybody carefully moved to the emergency exit door on what once was the roof. Rikuo, holding an unconscious kid on his back, unlocked and pushed up the door. He climbed out and walked further away from the bus, the other kids, each carrying at least one unconscious or unable to walk kid, following out until the bus was empty save for the bus driver. Rikuo had checked him earlier while he was waking up the kids. A boulder laying in front of the bus was his answer to if the driver was alive or not. Rikuo, as far as the limited open space would let him, got them to walk away from the bus and not be standing close to it if it decides to blow up._ Not that that’s gonna help but at least our parents will be able to identify us, _Rikuo remembers thinking grimly. (_ He didn’t tell the others while he was recounting the story the thoughts that had been passing through his head at the time. _)_

_He did a quick head count, making sure with Kana’s help that every kid who had been on the bus was out of the bus and alive. They laid down the injured and unconscious on a semi-stable patch of road and, using their own clothes and the supplies some of them had been smart enough to take out of the bus with them, everybody who could got to work on covering up their own injuries and their schoolmates’ injuries. It’s a good thing Rikuo always had a first aid kit on hand and the bus also always had a first aid kit because some of the kids’ injuries were something that needed stitches and medical attention immediately. Rikuo silently thanked his older brother over and over again for teaching him first aid and how to do field stitches as he got to work, with Kiyotsugu’s flashlight shining on the injuries to see, stitching, using the water bottles everybody was required to have on hand at their school to clean up the wounds so that he could see if they needed stitches, patching to the best of their limited supplies and abilities, popping a shoulder back in place, and temporarily casting a leg or an arm using wood that had previously been apart of the tunnel or apart of a tree. Don’t ask. One of the kids had started having an asthma attack, Rikuo was quick to ask the kid if he had an inhaler, which the kid has only managed a nod and gesturing vaguely in the direction of their backpack, and another kid had grabbed it and pulled out an inhaler which was tossed to Rikuo who grabbed it, opened, and shoved into the kid’s mouth. The kid was quick to take puff, breath in, hold, then out, take another puff, breath in, hold, then out. The kid didn’t take another puff but kept it in his mouth, breathing in, holding, and out 3 more times before taking the inhaler out. Rikuo silently gave the kid the cap and the kid recapped it. “Keep it on you, we may be here awhile,” Rikuo suggested, the kid nodded sheepishly as he focused on just breathing. Rikuo tossed him a makeshift mask and suggested he used it. The kid put the mask on, relaxing as the air from the mask is much clearer, focusing on keep his breathing calm and centered to not trigger another attack. Rikuo returned to getting the injuries under control and waking the ones who aren’t really injured beyond a possible concussion._

_He looked up once he realized that Kiyotsugu’s flashlight wasn’t shining on the group with the other flashlights. He saw Kiyotsugu, staring at something, shaking. The others looked up as well. “Kiyotsugu?” Kana called curiously. “There’s someone there,” Kiyotsugu whimpered._

_Rikuo’s bandaged left arm, shoulder, neck, and cheek throbbed as his eyes drifted from Kiyotsugu to where the light is shining._

_Rikuo stood up slowly as the other kids moved themselves together closely. “Kiyotsugu-san. Step back and move closer to the group, slowly.” They all knew that nobody else should be here. The tunnel had been empty other than the bus when it had collapsed._

_Kiyotsugu followed his instructions, backing up closer to the group. Rikuo stepped forward in defense._

_“I don’t know who you are or what you want,” Rikuo stated calmly. “But back off.” A fierce glare was sent to the strange men. They came closer, laughing at Rikuo._

_The kids started freaking out, realizing what the strangers are. “Y – YOKAI!” Shima shrieked in terror. Rikuo simply frowned,_

_The yokai were green and ugly. Sharp claws, sharp teeth, tattered cloaks framing their body. Rikuo didn’t know why but something about them, their aura, felt familiar – not the auras themselves, but an imprint of an aura that had stuck to these yokai. Rikuo shook his head slightly. Now isn’t the time to do a deep analysis._

_“Children… We’re here to harm you,” the leader of the group stated as he and his group jumped towards the kids, about to attack. The kids screamed in fear, only for it to stop._

_Some of the yokai had been killed, consumed by a fire. They shrieked as the other yokai immediately jumped back. “What?!”_

_“I told you to back off.” Everybody looked over to see Rikuo still standing before the yokai in defense, left arm raised towards the yokai and right arm thrown to the side, holding piece of paper with calligraphic kanji writing on it. The bandages covering his left arm had come undo, revealing burn marks traveling from his hand all the way to his shoulder, neck, and cheek, but also revealing markings similar to that of Seals._

_The yokai had apparently recognized the paper as a shikigami, “A kid Onmyouji?!” the leader shouted._

_Rikuo smiled, “Not even close,” as he moves his right hand in a hand seal to his chest. “Hidden Technique: Dance of the Fire Sakura.” Immediately from the floor, circling his body, to his left arm, a torrent of on-fire sakura petals flew and blew in the non-existent wind to the yokai, battering and catching them on fire._

_The yokai tried to fight back but they either ended up getting severely cut and killed from the wind or burnt by the sakura petals and perish from that. This continued on until all that was left was the yokai’s leader who was sent back and slammed against the fallen rocks on the other side._

_The kids stared in awe._

_“H- how could this happen? My clan, the most powerful in strength and ability, destroyed by some_ brat _!” The leader yelled. He stood up and shook in rage as Rikuo dropped his left arm._

_Rikuo allowed the paper in his hand to drop to the floor, revealing that it had burnt up and was turning to ash._

_The yokai stopped at that. “Yo – you’re not an Onmyouji…” A shikigami doesn’t just burn up and turn to ash after its usage unless it was a bomb shikigami._

_Rikuo sighed and rolled his eyes, “I’m pretty sure I already established that.”_

_The yokai growled then sped towards the kids behind Rikuo. The kids screamed again, flinching back. In response, Rikuo raised his left hand once more. The shadows seemed to grow on that side._

_“Hidden Shadow Technique: Disappearing Chains,” Rikuo whispered. The yokai screams as suddenly he stopped, crushed and unable to move because of something the kids couldn’t see._

_Rikuo’s arm shook as blood slowly started dripping from his nose. He took in a deep breath as he finished it, “Earth Technique: Burning Stake.” The earth rose up in front of the yokai and stabbed him right through the chest in a stake/spear-like formation. Then the cloaked yokai shrieked and disappeared, burning from the inside out. Rikuo dropped his arm, the shadows on his side disappeared, and breathed heavily. The kids drew closer to him, watching as the earth spike crumped to dust and rock. Then they silently pulled Rikuo to the rest of the group and had him sit down. Everybody had been patched up with some of the unconscious kids finally waking up. All of them shook and simply waited for rescue, tired, hurting, some of them coughing or sneezing slightly from the dust, and wanting to forget this incident. Kiyotsugu seemed to be having a midlife crisis upon finding out that yokai were real. Rikuo and some of the other kids just wanted this day to end._

_Rescue did come eventually, rocks being removed, and light shining down from the rescue workers. Everybody sent to the medics and the hospital._

_Namikaze Rikuo left Ukiyo-e Town a few days later._

“…That’s what Namikaze Rikuo, the new kid from school, said had happened during the Bus Incident. The others who witnessed the actual event as well agreed with every word he said, Kana-san confirming Namikaze’s move out of Ukiyo-e Town,” Yuki-Onna informs Rihan and the Council. They sit in silence for a moment as they processed the report.

“Well,” Gyuki speaks up, “At least now we know what had happened to Gagoze and his group.”

Various council members agreed.

Rihan frowns as he puffs out a breath of smoke then speaks up, “Yuki-Onna,” Yuki-Onna straightens up, “Hai?”   
“Describe this Namikaze Rikuo for me again.” The Council look at Rihan, Nurarihyon also turning to look at him. “What are you thinking, idiot son of mine?”

“Just listen. Yuki-Onna,” Rihan replies.

“Uh, hai. Um, the first thing I noticed when he walked into the classroom was that he had two tones of color in his hair – chocolate brown on top and dark brown at the bottom, closer to his neck. His hair was wild and windswept – some of the hair was even stuck and swept to the left. It reached his shoulders, some of the hair pulled back from his face into a ponytail. Kana-san says that when they were 8, when the Bus Incident happened, his hair had only reached his neck and was more windswept, less wild. I noticed that his walk was strange – like he couldn’t decide between being confident or shy. Like it was two personalities fighting for the right to decide how he walked. He seemed sure-footed, yet he walked as if he wasn’t sure where he was going or why. His posture also seemed like it had the potential posture of a leader, yet he was shy. He didn’t talk much. Barely said a word throughout the class, barely even asked any of the questions he might have had. He had wide, brown eyes, and slightly tan skin. He had a burn scar on his cheek, which apparently stretched from his left hand to his shoulder, neck, then stretched up to his cheek. I had noticed that his hand was bandaged but it wasn’t until he told his version of the Bus Incident that I learned that the cheek burn scar wasn’t an isolated scar. He wore the school uniform but the blazer was open,” Yuki-Onna reported, then hesitanted to continue with her analysis of the new kid but pulled herself together and finished, “…To be honest, Rihan-sama, he looked like a scarred, 12-year-old version of Waka – Nura Rikuo.” The Council stiffened and stared at Yuki-Onna for her bold remark, some angry at her words.

“Yuki-Onna!?” Karasu-Tengu whisper-shouts in shock, appalled by her words.

Rihan closes his eyes, hair covering his eyes and most of his face, no expression seen. Yuki-Onna sat stiffly, awaiting judgement but firm in her assessment. The silence stretched.

Nurarihyon throws his head, laughing, “You’ve got guts, Yuki-Onna, I’ll give you that! But saying something like that to lighten the mood is not funny.” He leans forward, frowning, serious.

Yuki-Onna frowns, brow furrowing at such an accusation, “I wouldn’t joke about something like that, Supreme Commander. I’m serious. If you saw him, you would have a hard time too not mistaking him for Waka returning home. I almost had.” Nurarihyon leans back, surprised.

Rihan straightens up, eyes serious, “Yuki-Onna, take me to him. The moment you get a chance to. I want to see for myself. Especially if the story about the Bus Incident and this Namikaze Rikuo using special techniques that Gegoze and his group mistaken for shikigami, is true.”

Everybody looks at the Second in surprise. Then Yuki-Onna smiles as she answers, “You don’t have to wait. Kiyotsugu-kun managed to convince Namikaze-kun to join the Kiyojuji Paranormal Patrol. The Patrol comes by tomorrow after school so that we can to a club meeting and still look for yokai while staying within the parameters of the new orders the school district gave our school. Namikaze, when asked, said that he should be finished unpacking by tomorrow, so he was free after school. He will be here.”

Rihan nods, not wanting to hope but knowing full well that Yuki-Onna wouldn’t even be reporting to him about this new kid if she didn’t firmly believe in her assessment of him looking just like an older version of his missing son. (And also, to finally report accurately what had happened to Gagoze and his group.)

The next day, the Kiyojuji Paranormal Patrol left the school, using the new buddy system, heading home to prepare for the afternoon at, what they were told was, Tsurara’s and Kurata’s work place/home – family works and lives there and so do they. Yura and Rikuo lived in the same apartment building so they left together, Kurata and Tsurara left together; Shima and Kiyotsugu live, not in the same neighborhood, but they stop at the same bus stops then go their separate ways (school never said they had to stay together once they left the neighborhood the school is situated in); Natsumi and Saori live in the same neighborhood and Kana left with an upperclassman (a girl) who lives in the house on the street across from her house. Kiyojuji Paranormal Patrol had agreed yesterday to Oikawa’s suggestion of doing their club and officially introducing the club to Rikuo at her workplace, that way if the club accidently goes on longer than intended, they wouldn’t get in trouble with the school or increase their chances of getting attacked by the school neighborhood serial killer.

Meanwhile, at the Nura Clan House, once it was confirmed by Yuki-Onna that the club is indeed coming to do their club activities, the yokai who can change their appearance quickly changed to their human forms, including Rihan and Nurarihyon (Yokai form is his younger appearance which takes a lot of effort for him to stay in so he generally only goes into that form during the night but he had been in his yokai form when Tsurara and Kurata had been in school so he also transformed). The yokai who couldn’t transform got to work in suppressing their yokai presence as much as they could and finding hiding places that the Onmyou girl won’t be able to check. The transformed yokai got the area usually given to the club, the building that is only connected through an outside hallway, ready for their arrival and club activities.

“Yuki-Onna,” Nurarihyon speaks up as Oikawa, Rihan, Kurata, Kubinashi, and Wakana walk to the entrance to wait for their arrival. “You mentioned how this new student looked like my missing grandson.”

“Hai, Shodaiso,” Yuki-Onna, in her Tsurara disguise, nods.

“What are you thinking, Oyaji?” Rihan questions.

“When I heard Yuki-Onna talk about this boy, all I could think was either someone was using my late grandson to get to us or someone was sick enough to taunt us with the return of Rikuo,” Nurarihyon answers.

“You don’t think it’s him finally returning,” Rihan raises an eyebrow, “Or maybe just a doppleganger? Someone who happens to look similar to my child.”

Nurarihyon shakes his head, “The thought of it being Rikuo returned or a doppleganger didn’t even cross my mind until Yuki-Onna implied such a thing.”

Rihan frowns and faces the front in response, not wanting to even entertain the idea of his missing child – he refuses to believe he’s dead even if he gave up hope of him returning – being used to get to him or being used to taunt the Family.

“Either way, we will handle whatever this situation is together as your Horde, Rihan-sama,” Kubinashi interjects.

Rihan smiles and nods, still looking forward, “Ah.”

They reach the entrance and stood waiting for the Kiyojuji Paranormal Patrol to arrive with the newest addition/potential club member.

 _It’s not often that I have my human friends come by, but it’s incredibly lucky that the others let me decide on when they should show up to ‘my work place’ so that we have time to prepare for their arrival,_ Yuki-Onna thought, watching several tiny yokai dig their way underneath the house and hide their Fear. Then she shakes her head, faces forward, and allows her Oikawa Tsurara persona to take over.

She silently notes Aotabo also letting his Kurata persona take over. Nurarihyon-sama allowing his old man persona to take over, Rihan-sama allowing his human persona to take over, and Kubinashi making sure his head would stay in one place and the scarf would hide his non-existent neck then allowing the human servant persona he created to take over.

Just in time for the first of the group to arrive. Kana, having lived closer to the clan house than the others, is the first to arrive, out of uniform, wearing casual clothes and carrying her backpack. She greets them, smiling.

“Hey, Tsurara-san!”

“Kana-san, you’re early!”

“I don’t live that far from here and, thanks to the fact that we were given enough time to get ready, I only had to change and grab my backpack,” she replies then greets Rihan and Nurarihyon. “Hello, Nura-san, Nura-ojichan. Thank you for letting us stay here to do our club activities.” She gives a short bow. Rihan waves it off. “It’s alright, it gets pretty lively around here anyways, might as well brighten it up some more with people other than old folk,” Rihan gists. A tick mark appears on Nurarihyon’s forehead as he slaps his son, “OI!”

Kana giggles. Tsurara tells her, “We’re staying in the doujyo again, go ahead and head there. I’m staying here and waiting for the others.”

Kana responses, “Actually, would it be ok if we all meet up here at the entrance and go together? Even with the wall in place, and the house being on the border line of the school district, the serial killer being out on the loose kinda freaks me out, I barely gathered the strength to come here by myself.” She then mumbles, “Kinda wish I lived near somebody who goes to our club so that I wouldn’t’ve had to walk here by myself.”

Tsurara shrugs and looks at Rihan, silently reminding Kana that this wasn’t her house, it was her work place that she happened to live in with her working family. Kana suppresses the urge to blush at once again forgetting that Tsurara didn’t have control of the house and looks at Nura-san. Rihan puffs out a breath of smoke and shrugs, nodding to the open spot next to Tsurara. Kana takes it as permission to wait with them and moves to the side next to Oikawa to wait.

Soon enough, Yura arrives with Namikaze Rikuo. Well, I say arrives – but really, they weren’t there then suddenly they were, appearing in a mix of a flash and shadow.

They flinch back in surprise.

Rikuo appears with Yura clutching his arm. They stumble slightly. Rikuo blinks back dots, while Yura turns green, stumbles back, letting go of Rikuo’s arm, then moves to the side, collapses to her knees and vomits her lunch to the ground. Rikuo stumbles more and shakes his head, gripping it in one arm.

“Woah, what happened to you guys?” Tsurara asks. The two looked as if they had run through a forests, they were covered head to toe in dirt, scratches, mud, bruises, leaves, and branches. (They weren’t in the school uniform though, wearing casual clothes.)

Yura straightens up and wipes her mouth then glares up at Rikuo, “A little warning please?!”

Rikuo flinches then laughs nervously, rubbing the back of his head, wincing when he touched a hurt spot, “Sorry, I didn’t really have a chance to. I saw the incoming attack and just instinctively grabbed you and activated Hiraishin.” He then mumbles to himself, “It’s a good thing you should me where this place was and what it generally looked like or else, we would’ve been a smear with our body parts scattered in different parts of the town.”

“…What?” Rihan speaks up then. Yura gets up, brushes herself off as much as she can, then walks towards Kana and Tsurara, then stands next to them and crosses her arms. “Ask Namikaze, it’s his technique,” she tells them. Rihan and Nurarihyon barely acknowledge her statement, to busy staring at Rikuo. Kurata and Kubinashi also stare at Rikuo.

 _I told you!_ Tsurara thinks triumphantly.

Rikuo walks closer then bows a greeting bow to Rihan and Nurarihyon, taking them to be the owners of the house. “Thanks for letting us use one of your rooms for our club activities.” He straightens up then smiles as he introduces himself, ignoring the mess that he must look like, “My name is Namikaze Rikuo, I’m a potential new member of the club.”

“So, you gonna tell them about what happened to us on our way here or am I going to have to tell Ni-san about that time in Kyoto with the Shrine Kitsune Guardian?” Yura tells Rikuo.

Rikuo pales then stares at her in horror, “You wouldn’t.”

She pulls out her phone, “Watch me. Kage’s still following you around, isn’t she?” She turns it on. Rikuo freaks out and pales even further. “I’ll tell the club, I’ll tell the club, I’LL TELL THE CLUB!” Rikuo shrieks, waving his hands back and forth. Yura smirks as she closes the phone and returns it to her pocket.

The others stare at her so Yura explains, “Getting Rikuo to report on yokai incidents that happen to him is like getting Kiyotsugu to give up on his mission to prove yokai exist and to see one. It isn’t gonna happen unless you have blackmail he doesn’t want you to speak of, to get him to speak about his experiences.”

They ‘oh’ed in response. Rikuo stares at her, deadpanned, “Did you have to phrase it like that?”

“Nope.” Yura replies, smirking. He nearly face faulted.

Soon, everybody was there and the club moved to their designated area. Rikuo is put through a test to verify that he truly is interested in yokai and knows his stuff about yokai. And is willing to help the club with their investigation. Everybody was exasperated with Kiyotsugu by the end, especially given that when the club was first creating, most of the current members didn’t have to go through this testing beyond confirming that they were mildly interested in yokai and whether or not they existed.

Meanwhile, in the main part of the house, Rihan, Kubinashi, and Nurarihyon were in a furious, whispery conversation about how much Namikaze looked like the missing Rikuo. They were all disturbed by the likeness. Just cut the hair to neck length and cover the burn and you have Nura Rikuo rather than Namikaze Rikuo. From the brief conversation they observed and Tsurara’s own observations and statement, he even had a hint of the mischievous side the missing Nura heir had just started cultivating when he disappeared. Rihan didn’t want to give himself hope but the idea of this Namikaze Rikuo being his missing son is blossoming in his chest and cementing itself the more he hears about this new kid. Witnessing him appearing suddenly in a flash with shadows didn’t help debunk the theory. Nurarihyon, meanwhile, was stubbornly have the opinion that it was either an enemy trying to get in or a normal kid who just happened to be his missing Grandson’s doppelgänger. Rihan didn’t like that idea either but he also understood his father’s theory was just a defense against hope: as long as he believed it wasn’t his grandson, he didn’t have to be crushed by the overwhelming despair of evidently being disproven. Kubinashi was between the two, understanding Rihan’s and Nurarihyon’s beliefs, but also firm in his belief that the kid was an ordinary kid with powers who had the misfortune of having the missing heir’s look-alike face.

Rihan knew the only way to get the two to see Namikaze as his Rikuo would be if the kid had a yokai side, a Nurarihyon side that he transformed into. He didn’t know how to prove or disprove such a thing and didn’t feel comfortable insisting the kids stay long enough for him to find out, nor sure how he would convince them to or his Clan to let them stay.

All three concluded that they would just have to wait and continue observations.

Later that evening, Rikuo realized how late it was. He freaks out.

“Eh, you have to go?” Tsurara asks surprised.

“What do you mean you have to go? It’s barely 6!” Shima inquires. They follow Rikuo’s speed walk towards the entrance.

Rikuo throws his backpack over his shoulder, as he replies, “I’m really sorry, you guys. I had a lot of fun, more than I thought I would. But I have insomnia and if I don’t take the medication for it at a certain time, then I’m not going to sleep!”

He sits down at the edge and puts on his shoes as he continues, “Trust me, you guys do not want to meet the version of me that’s an insomniac.” He straightens up then turns to face them. He laughs softly at their expressions and says, “Hey, don’t look at me like that! You’re acting as if I’m not going to show up to school tomorrow! I’m here for the rest of the year, so you’ll be seeing me again. I have to get home to take my meds, I didn’t think I would be here for so long so I didn’t have the foresight to just bring them with me.”

They cheer up at the reminder that he will be at school tomorrow. Rikuo turns to leave but Kiyotsugu taps his fist to his palm and calls out to Rikuo, “Oh, yeah, that’s right! Namikaze, you passed the test, so you’re eligible to join! Are you going to continue coming to our meetings, despite how erratic the meeting places are probably going to be?”

Rikuo just gives a thumbs up as he walks out of the house and then the compound. He starts sprinting the moment his feet have left the compound. Kana sighs then realizes, “Oh.”

“What is it, Kana?” Natsumi blinks at her.

“Well, we’ve finished our usual club activities that we do when we’re not chasing yokai and finished the member test and potential enrollment stuff. So, there’s really no reason for us to still be here too,” Kana replies.

Kiyotsugu sighs, “You’re right, Ienaga.” He crosses his arms and whines, “I was hoping to introduce Rikuo to the yokai game too…” Shima pats his arm consolidatingly. “Maybe next time.”

They return to their designated club room to gather up their stuff and then leave one by one, waving goodbye to Tsurara and thanking the house owners once again. Kiyotsugu yells out one last reminder that next meeting they will be meeting up at Yura’s and Rikuo’s apartment building. Supposedly there are some yokai that Yura hasn’t gotten a chance to exorcise there and Kiyotsugu wants to show Rikuo the ropes of what they do during investigations. Figured the building would be prefect place to show him.

Yura confirms that she will inform Rikuo, because he had forgotten to, as she leaves the compound with Kana not far behind her.

_Later that night…_

The yokai all gather together in the meeting room, even Wakana was there, having been informed about the new kid when he showed up. They wait.

“NIDAIME, SHODAISHO!!” A scream calls out.

Karasu-Tengu comes flying/barging in, skidding to a halt then kneeling before Rihan and Nurarihyon. He breathes in and out heavily as he kneels there, pausing to catch his breath.

“Woah, what happened to you?” Nattou-kozo blinks. The other yokai straighten, waiting for his report.

“Report, Karasu,” Rihan demands. Nurarihyon puffs out a breath of his pipe.

Karasu-Tengu, once he catches his breath, gives his report, “I followed the child, Namikaze Rikuo, the moment he left the compound, as ordered. He started sprinting as he left. He’s… surprisingly agile and fast. There were a number of times I nearly lost him for he, using the terrain to his advantage, disappeared multiple times in and out of the city alleyways, streets, and paths. I think he sensed my presence or at least that he was being followed, for there were many times where he looked up at the sky or around his surroundings, searching for whoever was looking at him. And he missed his building many times, some times blocks away, too many times for it to just be him getting lost on the way. He went into his apartment building, I’m assuming once he thought that the coast was clear. He came back out a few minutes later, just as I had managed to find the perfect vantage point to observe and not catch his attention. To be honest, sir, I was hidden from human sight this entire time, yet he could sense me, maybe even see me through that disguise. So, I took the extra precaution and wasn’t able to see what he was doing in his apartment. Once he left, I followed him once again. He was carrying something in his hand. At first I couldn’t see what. Then he entered one of the town parks, went incredibly deep into the wooden area where no human would follow at night time. Then at a clearing, I hid in a tree and I was finally able to see what was in his hands. It was a pill bottle – at the time I had assumed it was his insomnia medication that he had to take. But I didn’t get why he would need to come to a wooded area to take his medication.” Here Karasu-Tengu paused to take a breath and make sure everybody was following and had any questions.

At Rihan’s nod for him to continue, he continues,

“By this time, night had completely fallen and the moon was shining bright. Namikaze’s hands were shaking as he sat on the ground, pulled out a water bottle, and opened the pill bottle. He was gritting his teeth and repeating over and over again, ‘No, you don’t get control. This is not the place.’ He shook the medication bottle to get out one pill, but his hands spasmed and caused the medication to spill out and the bottle to fall out of his hands. He freaked out then froze. The hand that still had the first pill shook as it tried to get the pill into his mouth. He dropped the pill. His hands dropped to his side. Everything stood still. No sounds, no movement. Nothing except for Namikaze’s raggedy breath as he bent down in pain and fear. I knew the second emotion was fear because, though I couldn’t hear what he was saying and his whimpers were quiet, Namikaze’s body language was that of a human who was face-to-face with their personal fear, their personal trauma, face-to-face with something they didn’t want to see or acknowledge but made its presence known anyways. Then the most gut-wrenching scream pierced out of Namikaze as, this was something which so shocked me I almost didn’t catch what happened after, Fear, youki, burst out of the child so suddenly, so abruptly it almost seemed to destroy the child. It felt as if the Fear had been suppressed by whatever that medication is for so long that it physically and mentally destroys the poor child every time he transforms into a Yokai and back into a human. When the Fear cleared, the figure stood up. This one wasn’t Namikaze and yet was. And I realized with another burst of shock that the reason why the Fear was so familiar was because I was looking at a Nurarihyon yokai. His Yokai form was a mixture between Shodaisho’s younger form and Rihan-sama’s Yokai form. Except his hair was white and black, he has red eyes, and his hair is swept to the side.”

Rihan sucks in a breath as Nurarihyon nearly chokes on his pipe at the information. The other yokai start to mutter and shift, unsure if this means an imposter or if it’s truly the heir returned.

Karasu-Tengu took in another deep breath, desperately wished for a drink, and continues his report, “The child – no, this Yokai looked to be in his late teens… He called out to me. He knew I was there, told that even ‘[his] Day self’ knew I was there but was in too much of a hurry to ‘stop [him] from taking control’ to do anything about my presence. When I asked him questions, he told me, _‘No, we barely have any memory of our life before we became wanderers. Our Yokai form woke up around 8 years old, Day me became aware of my presence around when we were 9. Even before our Yokai blood had woken up, we had always been more of a night owl then day but could still function fine during the day. When Day Me woke up his spiritual power and got trained… we got along at first. Day Me didn’t think anything of my presence at first, but as his training and urge to wander deepened, he started to fear me. Think I was a separate being that had somehow managed to possess his body despite the spiritual powers which should have stopped that. A little while after the Bus Incident, he grew to fear the night. His discovery of my presence when we were 9 didn’t help his fear. Our insomnia grew, our fear of what was happening to us and how people would react if they knew – we didn’t care which worlds, we just didn’t want anybody to know – grew, then a foster family was kind enough to get us to a doctor who prescribed us insomnia medication. … I thought it was just there to suppress the insomnia, enable us to sleep properly and have control over the night again. Then he changed the pills – added his blood and a liquified version of his power to the pill. So, now, not only has Day Me managed to suppress his insomnia but he managed to partially suppress me. I would have been able to hold this form for the whole night and, outside of our first transformation, beyond a simple boiling blood sensation, the transformations would’ve been painless. Now, I can barely hold this form for three hours a night, the transformations grow painful with each year, and’_ here, this Night Rikuo turned to glare at the pills laying on the ground, _‘it grows evermore troublesome to get rid of these damn pills. My Day self has basically made it nearly impossible for us to ever merge and both of our powers – spiritual and youki – grow weaker with each year. …They cancel each other out on good days and on bad days it’s a constant struggle. …We have no alliances so there is none for us to turn to for help.’_ When I asked why Namikaze would do this to himself, he was silent for a while then, looking up at the sky, he responses, _‘Because the humans so far have been the only ones whom gave us any positive encounters, even with the negative encounters, and Day doesn’t want to lose that. We are wanderers, any positive encounters is an encounter we will not face for weeks, sometimes months, after. We were 5 years old when we learned that humans feared Yokai, we were 4 when we saw how humans react to things they do not understand and or fear. …I do not blame other me for his choices, I only wish we can find a family that will accept both of us as a whole and help heal the trauma we’ve been through, so I can communicate with my other half better without him slamming up the walls again.’_ After that, we sat in silence with the other Yokai occasionally wandering off to attack any malevolent Yokai in the park – me of course making sure they weren’t Nura Yokai – until the pills forced him to transform back, as he had mentioned, three hours later. …To be honest, there wasn’t much that I could say, especially with how open that child was about answering my questions. Then again, he must have been really desperate. The child fell unconscious after the transformation back to a human. I hid and waited to make sure he would wake up then flew my way back here as quickly as I could to deliver what I have seen.” Karasu finishes.

Wakana was crying with a hand covering her mouth after hearing of what had happened. Some other Yokai crying with her, some thinking over the report, and others trying to desperately distract themselves from the horror they had heard.

Rihan sits in silence, eyes sharp but sorrow and anger dancing within their golden pools, then glances at his father who also sits in silence, eyes sharp and angry. “Still think it’s an imposter, dad? We Nurarihyons do tend to be wanders, even when in human form.”

“Shut up, I’m thinking,” Nurarihyon snips back.

Rihan turns to Karasu and nods, dismissing him, “Thank you, Karasu-Tengu. You’re dismissed, go and rest.” Karasu bows then leaves.

Wakana rests a hand on Rihan’s arm, gripping the fabric for comfort, “Anata? What are you going to do?”

Everybody looks to Rihan for directions as to how to proceed.

Rihan closes his eyes for a moment, breathing in and out, then opens them.

A smirk crosses his lips even while his eyes still dance with fury and sorrow.

“Isn’t it obvious? We’re going to bring Rikuo back, Nura-style. No matter what.”


End file.
